The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Crapemyrtle plant, botanically known as Lagerstroemia indica ‘JM4’ and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘JM4’.
The new Crapemyrtle plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Poplarville, Miss. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new vigorous and freely-branching Crapemyrtle plants with dark-colored leaves and attractive flower colors.
The new Crapemyrtle plant originated from a cross-pollination conducted by the Inventor during the summer of 2015 of Lagerstroemia indica ‘Natchez White’, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with Lagerstroemia indica ‘Ebony Flame’, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Crapemyrtle plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor in May, 2016 as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled nursery environment in Poplarville, Miss.
Asexual reproduction of the new Crapemyrtle plant by vegetative softwood cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Poplarville, Miss. since August, 2016 has shown that the unique features of the new Crapemyrtle plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.